A Poet’s response to place is rarely purely descriptive Essay

In this essay I will write about whether I agree with the statement above, or not. I will base my conclusion upon a detailed examination of two poems. I will look at the ideas and techniques poets use, language and imagery etc. I agree with the above statement, I feel nothing is purely descriptive, for example when someone says † That house looks deep-rooted and daunting† the quote is descriptive as well as being someone’s personal opinion. To one person it may look daunting but to another the house may look safe and restful. Whenever someone describes something, it always includes an opinion, so nothing can ever be purely descriptive. I will back up my opinion by looking at the two poems: London -William Blake (1757-1827) Dover Beach -Matthew Arnold (1823-1888) â€Å"London† is a poem about William Blake’s interpretation of the dark side of London, he talks about how everyone is suffering, and how everyone is looking for freedom, no one has a future. † Dover Beach† is a poem about a beach in England, Matthew Arnold is describing what he feels is wrong with the world, and the reasons for the problems we have. â€Å"London† – A poem of social protest, against the suffering of all who live in a world such as this. Written in 1789 (during the British industrial revolution). Not a poem of observed factual detail but Blake’s perception of London, he uses the traditional form of alternate rhyming lines to imitate the repetitive predictability of the circle of suffering. ‘London’ shows that: if the institution and structure of a place is corrupt then the people can never have a chance for innocence. In his poem Blake describes to the reader how there are legal restrictions on the roads, â€Å"Charter’d street†. Also how the river Thames is governed â€Å"Charter’d Thames † The quotation shows that even a river which should seem free, is owned , restricted. When Blake describes the restrictions, he is also enlightening the reader about the state of the residents of London, â€Å"mind forg’d manacles† this quotation shows the depression and imprisoning of people, in their own mind. People are searching for liberty. People in London are abandoning the church because there lives are going so wrong â€Å"Every Black’ning Church appalls†. The word â€Å"plagues† really gives us the impact of the place he was walking through, it’s a very pungent word. In this Poem, Blake uses disconnected stanza’s, almost to describe the place where he is , nothing is stable, including peoples life. The rhythm of the poem is monotonous, there is not one positive image or feeling. There is also assonance to reinforce what he is saying. In this Poem, Blake starts to describe London, but as soon as he does, he describes the way people live and how they drastically lack liberty. â€Å"Dover Beach† is a melancholic poem. Matthew Arnold uses the means of ‘pathetic fallacy’, when he projects the human feeling of sadness onto an inanimate object like the sea. A repetition of neither†¦nor in stanza 4 underlines a series of denials: â€Å". . . neither joy, nor love, nor light/ Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;† (l. 33-34). All these are basic human values. If none of these do truly exist, this raises the question of what remains. With these lines, Arnold draws a nihilistic view of the world he is living in. Throughout the poem, the sea is used as an image and a metaphor. At first, it is beautiful to look at in the moonlight (ll.1-8), then it begins to make hostile sounds (â€Å"grating roar† (l. 9); â€Å"tremulous cadence† (l.13)) that suggest a general feeling of sadness. In the third stanza, the sea is turned into a metaphoric â€Å"Sea of Faith† (l.21) — a symbol for a time when religion could still be experienced without the doubts brought about by progress and science (Darwinism). Now, the ‘Sea of Faith’ and also the certainty of religion withdraws itself from the human grasp and leaves only darkness behind. Matthew Arnold, not only describes Dover beach, he describes he thoughts on the world, and why things are the way they are. To conclude with both the poems I have looked at, have reinforced the statement: â€Å"A Poet’s response to place is rarely purely descriptive† I have shown by using â€Å"London† and â€Å"Dover beach† that a poet always does so much more than simply describe a place, the poet’s own thoughts and feelings shine through. The reader gets taken deep down into the poem ,and finds out why the poet feels the way he/she does. Each poem is an insight to the way poets feel about places. Neither poems just describes a place, therefore I empathize with the above statement.